Ridgid TS Alignment

[Orlando Gonzalez]

I have a Ridgid 3660 and it being a CS, I periodically check its alignment. Today, I put a dot on one tooth in the front of the blade (not on the carbide), zeroed out the dial indicator on my TS-Aligner Jr. I then rotated the blade to the back, put the dial indicator on the same marked tooth, and found that the rear of the blade was heeling away from the left miter slot by .003. So using the adjusting lever I adjusted the rear trunion so that the dial indicator read "zero." When I rotated the same tooth back to the front I saw that I was off .030. The lever has reached the furthest it can go and I can't get this to square up.:mad:

My questions are:

1. Am I supposed to rotate the blade back to the front and take another rmeasurement or just tighten the trunions down after the first measurement?

2. For those who have a 3650/3660 how do you stop the trunions from moving when tightening the bolts.

3. What am I doing wrong.


Thanks

Orlando

[Bill Huber]

Yes, you have to adjust and then recheck and then adjust again. You are basically rotating the whole unit when you move the back or the front.

You should loosen the front when you move the back so that things do not get in a bind.

Then tighten things up and check it again.

When you think about it the only reason you moved the back was because you set the front to zero, if you would have set the back to zero then you could say that the front was off.

[Russell Tribby]

Orlando, welcome to the Pandora's Box of the 3650/3660!. Actually there are some really good threads on the Ridgid site on this. First of all the two trunnions have to be aligned. To do that loosen up all the bolts. The next step may seem odd but it works - turn the bevel handle until (looking from the back of the saw) the front trunnion moves all the way to the left. Once that is done tighten up the bolts on the front trunnion (it helps if you rotate between bolts). Once you've tightened up the bolts turn teh bevel crank to get the blade back to 90. Next use the adjusting lever on the back trunnion to adjust the blade parallel to the miter slot. I always mark "x" on the rear of the blade and then spin it my hand and measure that same spot at the front. Once you've got it aligned tighten the bolts but....make sure you rotate between the bolts and only tighten them a little at a time. Go back and check the alignment periodically as you are tightening the bolts, making adjustments as needed. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Orlando Gonzalez]

Thanks Russell. I checked the Ridgid Forum but only got one hit. The OP said he removed the bevel lock screw which allowed for the the front trunion to move. I practically had to lift the motor and slide it (all trunion bolts loose) to creep up to the alignment. I finally got it within .001 but it took me most of the morning. If I understand you correctly, I loosen all the trunion bolts, turn the bevel wheel until the front trunion moves to the left, tighten the front trunion bolts down, and then move on to the back trunion, right? Sounds cool. I'll try anything that will ease my pain next time.

Since you have a 3650/3660 let me ask:

1 - At what intervals do you check for blade/miter slot alignment.

2 - The adjusting lever is an enigma. The OP on the Ridgid Forum said he had all the way to the left (like it happens to me) which prevented him from moving the trunions (thus his removal of the bevel lock screw). Is it normal for the elver to be all the way to the left?

3 - Have you considered using PALS on your TS?

4 - Do you clamp down the trunions as you tighten them?

Thanks

Orlando

[Russell Tribby]

[quote=Orlando Gonzalez;892694]Thanks Russell. I checked the Ridgid Forum but only got one hit. The OP said he removed the bevel lock screw which allowed for the the front trunion to move. I practically had to lift the motor and slide it (all trunion bolts loose) to creep up to the alignment. I finally got it within .001 but it took me most of the morning. If I understand you correctly, I loosen all the trunion bolts, turn the bevel wheel until the front trunion moves to the left, tighten the front trunion bolts down, and then move on to the back trunion, right? Sounds cool. I'll try anything that will ease my pain next time.

That's exactly it. Make sure that you loosen the bevel lock knob before you start turning the crank/wheel.

Since you have a 3650/3660 let me ask:

1 - At what intervals do you check for blade/miter slot alignment.

What do you mean by intervals?

2 - The adjusting lever is an enigma. The OP on the Ridgid Forum said he had all the way to the left (like it happens to me) which prevented him from moving the trunions (thus his removal of the bevel lock screw). Is it normal for the elver to be all the way to the left?

I don't know if it's normal. I would loosen all the bolts, go through the prodecure for the front trunnion and then start working on the rear trunnion with the lever centered. You should be able to loosen the bolt under the lever enough so that you can move the lever without moving the trunnion.

3 - Have you considered using PALS on your TS?

I have considered PALS but since I used this method I don't think they're necessary. I did this two days ago and got it dead on.

4 - Do you clamp down the trunions as you tighten them?

I didn't clamp them down. I tighten each bolt just a little in increments. If it shifts then I use the lever to bring it back. I probably checked the alignment 5-6 times as I was tightening the rear trunnion bolts.

I hope this helps. Let me know what you mean by intervals and if you have any other questions.

[Orlando Gonzalez]

What do you mean by intervals? How much time between alignment checks. For example, do you check weekly, monthly, after cutting some tough wood, or ripping a lot of board feet.

Thanks

Orlando

[Russell Tribby]

Usually every couple of weeks or if I feel something is not right. Since I just re-calibrated everything this last Friday I'll probably go back and check it tomorrow or Tuesday to make sure things haven't shifted. One of these days I'll get a cabinet saw and won't have to worry so much about these things:)

[Orlando Gonzalez]

"One of these days I'll get a cabinet saw and won't have to worry so much about these things." :) Ditto. Thanks for all the help Russ. I greatly appreciate it.

[brett gallmeyer]

I must have just got lucky. lol. I have the TS3650. It probably took me 30min max to align the blade to the miter slot and the fence to the miter slot. mine is within 0.001 from blade to fence at most.

[Loren Hedahl]

What's really happening is when you make an adjustment you are rotating the blade and mechanism around a pivot point which is the front trunion.

When you want to correct the error as measured at the rear of the blade you want to move it the error distance multiplied by the ratio of the distance from the rear of the blade to the front trunion - to - the front of the blade to the front trunion.

For those of us who are a little less anal I would just move it about half the error distance and remeasure. If it is still out a bit, just repeat the half error corrections a time or two more and you will eventually converge on an exact alignment.

Yes -- by all means get a set of $25 PALS. It's almost impossible to get a precise alignment without them.

[Russell Tribby]

I once thought that I would need to get a set of PALS but I don't think so anymore. The procedure that I described to Orlando was extremely accurate. The little adjusting lever on the back trunnion on the 3650 offers the ability to microadjust the alignment for great accuracy. Like I mentioned in the previous post my saw is now dead on, whereas it used to be off by 0.002 or 0.003.

[Loren Hedahl]

I once thought that I would need to get a set of PALS but I don't think so anymore. The procedure that I described to Orlando was extremely accurate. The little adjusting lever on the back trunnion on the 3650 offers the ability to microadjust the alignment for great accuracy. Like I mentioned in the previous post my saw is now dead on, whereas it used to be off by 0.002 or 0.003.

Now that you mention it, I do remember the new Ridgid TS's have a feature that does the equivalent of a set of PALs as standard equipment.

So you just saved yourself twenty five bucks!

[Vic Damone]

I once thought that I would need to get a set of PALS but I don't think so anymore. The procedure that I described to Orlando was extremely accurate. The little adjusting lever on the back trunnion on the 3650 offers the ability to microadjust the alignment for great accuracy. Like I mentioned in the previous post my saw is now dead on, whereas it used to be off by 0.002 or 0.003.

+1, I agree, very accurate and easy to adjust using this methode. Having a very long socket extension for the trunion bolts makes it even easier.

Vic